At first, using one vehicle for every group trip sounds like such a clever little plan, doesn’t it? Like this could very well lead to stress-free travel because there’s more money and you’re spending less. There’s no need for coach hire, no train fares multiplying by the minute, no trying to coordinate five different arrivals and instead everyone is together under one vehicle roof. Be it a minibus, van or whatever else. And yes, there’s no doubt about it that absolutely all of this looks super organised too.
Well, that’s on paper at least. But this is exactly the sort of idea people can get smug about too early. Because once one vehicle becomes the answer for every group outing, all the less exciting costs start crawling out of the woodwork and eventually that’s going to add up.
Fuel is only the cost people bother talking about
Which you clearly can’t deny here. But this is usually where people stop doing their maths, and that’s the first mistake. They work out the fuel, divide it by however many people are going and decide that’s basically the whole story.
But bigger vehicles burn through fuel faster and once the trip gets longer, the roads get slower or the luggage starts multiplying like it always does, that total can start looking a lot less appealing. Did you know that the more weight that’s in your car, the more petrol it uses. A lot of people don’t always realise this.
Repairs turn up with terrible timing
Hopefully it will never happen, but the chances are that this has happened to you, like during the commute to work or on a special occasion (such as heading to a wedding), during a heatwave, during a trip or on your way to an appointment. Well, you get the picture. But it can be a little scary when a warning light comes on, something starts clunking, the brakes feel off or the battery starts having issues. Maybe you can ignore it at first but then it just gets to the point where you really can’t and you shouldn’t.
So that’s why you need to look into getting a service and tune up from a reputable mechanic and yes, you’ll probably need to do some research first to find the right one. But before any long car journey it’s probably a good idea to get your car serviced, especially for a road trip.
What about parking and storage?
Well, this is usually the case for any car but sometimes, depending on the vehicle’s size and where you’re going, you might actually have to consider where you can park. Just keep in mind though that bigger vehicles can be awkward to park, not always easy to keep at home, difficult to move when they’re not being used and generally just a bit more effort than you perhaps thought. If it doesn’t fit comfortably on a drive, you may need to consider keeping it in secure storage for a good part of the year so that it remains safe.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
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